Big Helmets and Truncheons

This weekend saw the opening of the 2009 World Police & Fire Games here in Vancouver. Teams from around the globe are competing over 10 days in disciplines from track and field to angling (I kid you not). On Saturday you couldn't move for bumping into a Fireman, steady girls. On that subject what is it about fireman that get you so worked up? It's the helmets right? You know it is. Also I think street crime over the next week or so will be at an all time low as lots of burly, short haired, stern looking guys are prowling around the city, it doesn't seem to matter if they are in uniform or sports attire, you can spot them a mile off.

The track events are being held in the park I use to run around so I 'll be trying to go and see a few events over the time they are here. As I ambled around the park on Saturday they were starting some of the field events and it could be my imagination but these guys seemed to be taking it very seriously. I have looked over the schedule of activities and was disappointed to find there were no pole sliding events or chasing the Chav sprints, feel they missed out on an opportunity there.

The heat is slowly dying down now, in the high 20's until the end of the week when it should cool further. Friday was still warm and I have to admit to having great difficulty shifting myself out of the apartment and actually ended up just vegetating the day away in front of the TV watching a few classic films including Back to the Future. That film is great, and I don't care how old I get I still want a Deloren!

Saturday did see me lever myself off the sofa for at least a small time, after a very, very leisurely plod around the park I went down town to hunt down a nice meal. After looking for the Vancouver HardRock Cafe (closed down) and the Vancouver Planet Hollywood (closed down) I found a place on Robson St. called Milestones. I had a very nice meal at a fair price even if the Pepsi was flatter than my backside. Will be adding that to the list of revisits.

After leaving the restaurant comfortably full I wound my way through the streets ending up at one of the downtown cinemas. Now so far I have found Canadian cinemas to be quite expensive at around $13 dollars a film, but I was surprised to find even on a Saturday that they were charging a matinee fee and was just $9, score! The film in question was an Indie movie called '500 days of Summer' starring Zoey Deschanel (she's lovely) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who played the young kid in 3rd rock from the Sun. No spoilers will be found on these pages but I can safely say it is worth a watch when it reaches a cinema near you.

Sunday, as anyone who has done marathon training will now is LSR day, Long Slow Run. I have to say, I both love and loathe LSR day. It is the one day of the week you should never skip if you can avoid it as these runs are the ones that will get you across the finish line. They are a chance to test out how your endurance is building up and see what your heart reckons to the endeavour and when you have finished it you know your are not running that far again for at least a week. Really everything you do during the week is in preparation for this run, you can run as fast as you like but if you can't keep it going over the distance then the marathon is not going to happen. That is not to say that if you fall short one week on a long run then you aren't going to be able to the race, I have missed my target several times, but it does act as a great measure how you are doing and it improves your mental outlook at the race to know you can at least go this far and what it feels like to do that.

Having said all the good, the bad is that there is no way to cheat the LSR. At some point in the day you have to get up out of bed and put in the miles. I'm fantastic at creating delaying tactics to avoid the reality of having to start the run. My favourite one at the minute because I'm using the treadmill is to wait until there is a good movie on TV so I have something to watch as a clock up the miles.

So with Galaxy Quest starting at 2pm I finally managed to get myself out of the apartment and with lubed nipples (I learn my lessons) I headed off to the gym. The reason I have been using the treadmill for long runs at the minute is one because of the hot weather, it allows me to put lots of water bottles around me, and two, because I'm still looking for a flattish place to run, I like hills now but I still don't want to run them over any distance. I think my Sunday sessions on the treadmill haven't gone unnoticed either. It started a couple of weeks ago with a polite notice on the gym room notice board saying that would residents please remember that a maximum of 30 minutes should be spent on the treadmill if others are waiting. This noticed then moved right next to the treadmill and now it is not so polite. In my defence I do offer the treadmill to anyone that comes into to the gym, but I'm starting to think there might be a language barrier issue at work here. Anyway I have now come up with a new plan, I have printed a notice declaring that I'm marathon training but will be happy to move off the machine if someone else would like to use it. To add to this I'm going to get it translated into a couple of the more common languages in the complex, hopefully that should assuage my guilt.

This weeks run went very well considering it is still like an oven in the gym, I took 3 bottles of water with me and still managed to lose 4 lbs in sweat! I had a slight hiccup with my heart rate monitor half way through, either the battery died or my heart gave out, given the continued breathing I went for option one. So after Galaxy Quest had finished and School of Rock was reaching its crescendo I finished the run. One problem I do seem to have picked up is a sore right Achilles tendon, I'm hoping that cause is that I have been using some light weight trainers on the treadmill and that they haven't been offering enough cushioning for my stompy gate. I'm going back to my normal trainers this week and with some rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E love those acronyms) I'm hoping it clears up.

Enough of my droning for this post, I will go and get on with living. A quick mention to Andy, Gayle and Martin who ran in the Wellingborough 5 mile road race this weekend, they all put in personnel best times and did themselves proud, well done guys. Good Job!